Amateur Radio Operators from
around the state and nation
will again be practicing for
an activity they hope they
never have to perform.
Amateur Radio Field Day is
Saturday and Sunday, June 28th
and 29th and many local ham
radio clubs will be
participating, according to
Chuck Hendrickson, president
of the Cass County Amateur
Radio Club. This exercise
prepares local hams for the
possibility of emergencies
such as tornadoes,
hurricanes, floods,
earthquakes and the like,
here or for deployment in
other areas of the nation.
For 24 continuous hours,
local hams will be
contacting other similar
operations across the
country who are also
participation in this
practice session.
"This gives us a chance to
practice and work the bugs
out of any operations we may
be called on to conduct by
area, state or federal
emergency management
agencies," said Hendrickson.
"Ham operators have a long
standing tradition of
handling communication with
the outside world from
disaster sites all over the
world when conventional
means of communications
have failed and stand ready
to do it again if the need
arises. The flooding in
central and southern Indiana
earlier this month is the
latest example of an ever
growing list where amateur
radio operators helped many
thousands of people."
This practice session and
any emergency operations
hams are called on to handle
are done on a completely
volunteer basis. The members
of the Cass County Amateur
Radio Club invite the public
and local officials to visit
their field day site at the
Cass County EMA Building,
1227 N State Road 17, just
north of Logansport. The
operations begin with set-up
on Friday evening and 24
hours of continuous
operations beginning at 2
p.m. on Saturday.
